Finding a good horror film that truly strikes deep fear into its audiences is a hard thing to do. Everyone has their own specific kind of genre that sends shivers down their spine; for some, it's gore, for others, it's the supernatural, and some need terrifying monsters in a horror film for it to be worth their time.
Regardless of what subgenre a horror film lies in, there are some films that live on to be cult classics while other films slowly begin to lose their spark; and suddenly their scares turn into laughs instead. Whether it be due to being heavily parodied as comedy in other media, not aging well, or evolving into a franchise that dragged on for longer than it should have, here are some horror films that somehow lost their fear factor over the years.
7 Saw (Series)
The original Saw film was initially released all the way back in 2004 and during its early stages, truly shook its audience to the core. The original Saw film was fantastic on its own; it was a very refreshing kind of horror and was rather unique to many audiences. Overall Saw had a large cultural impact, making antagonist Jigsaw's puppet, Billy, easily recognizable to people even outside the Saw fandom.
However, as the series went on, the original writers left, the traps became too over-the-top, and Jigsaw himself was killed off, the films began to lose their spark, and fans slowly lost interest. By the time 2021's Spiral came out, fans were more than ready to leave Jigsaw's legacy behind and finally put the series to bed.
6 The Ring
The film The Ring was one of the most prolific horror films that terrified audiences in North America once being brought in from overseas. The Ring was based on the original 1998 Japanese horror film, which was a film adaptation of the 1991 Japanese novel, all of the same name "Ring".
In many ways, The American version of The Ring paved the way for other Asian horror films to be adapted for English-speaking audiences. However, after the film was so heavily parodied by other kinds of media (namely the Scary Movie series), it quickly became more of a meme rather than a certified horror classic.
In addition to how much The Ring was meme'd and parodied, many hardcore horror fans went back to the original 1998 Japanese original to compare and contrast; ultimately ruling that in hindsight, the American adaptation just didn't have the same fear factor the original had.
5 Scream (Series)
The original 1996 Scream movie was a hit and was genuinely terrifying. Its release and subsequent success were said to be what revived the slasher genre in the 1990s as many other slasher flicks were sent to a straight-to-video release. Scream was a satirical fresh new take on the slasher genre; with characters that were aware of horror tropes and actively tried to avoid any clichés that would get them killed.
While the series is still going strong and is generally still entertaining, it doesn't hold the fear factor it once did back in its earlier days. Ghostface may have been terrifying to audiences in his prime but nowadays with how many parodies have used his mask, that ghostly face just doesn't deliver the scares like it used to.
In fact, many think of the Scary Movie/Budweiser parody first before the Scream movies themselves when it comes to Ghostface! It seems as if many fans of the series keep coming back to the franchise because of the story rather than the scares.
4 The Blair Witch Project
The case of The Blair Witch Project is a curious one as both comedic parodies and a sketchy sequel both played a role in the film's legacy's decay. The Blair Witch first came out in 1999, reviving the old "found footage" genre of horror; giving audiences a much more immersive experience. While the original film did well and spooked audiences everywhere, the production company wanted to keep riding the high and continue the series.
Unfortunately, the second film, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 didn't have any of the original directors, writers, or producers on their side and didn't capture the same horror and unique experience the first film delivered. In the end, the second film was incredibly underwhelming and leaned on the success and story of the first film, in turn, tarnishing the good name and legacy of the original Blair Witch film.
3 Alien/AVP (Series)
The Alien series is one of the most prolific science-fiction horror franchises of all time and is the series the terrifying Xenomorph monsters (or more accurately, aliens) originated. While the Alien series itself has been very stable, getting generally positive reviews, the Aliens Vs. Predator (AVP) spinoff series that spawned from it was sadly not as successful.
Even with AVP having such great source material to pull from, the spinoff series just ended up being a cheese-fest with bad lighting and fight scenes with bad (and close-up) angles. Due to the lackluster AVP films, Xenomorphs (by association) have definitely lost a bit of the terrifying fear factor they once had back in the 70s-90s.
2 The Grudge (Series)
The Grudge was hair-raising when it first hit theaters in 2004; yet another American adaption of a Japanese horror (called Ju-On: The Grudge) film that ended up being a hit with English-speaking audiences. However, it once again suffered from the high of keeping a series going until audiences are (regretfully) tired of the entire franchise.
By the third film in the franchise, they skipped out on the theatrical release altogether and went straight to video instead. By the 2020 reboot of the series, simply titled The Grudge, fans were a bit disappointed by the tame scares and (now) predictable storyline.
Overall, the story grew a bit stale and became a bit too linear for fans to still feel spooked. In addition to the multiple sequels, many horror fans have said that in comparison, the original 2002 Japanese original outshone its American remake.
1 Paranormal Activity (Series)
When Paranormal Activity was released back in 2007, the found-footage genre of films was revived once again. The main pull of the film was how realistic it felt to audiences, and the fact it was filmed in a regular household made viewers feel like these eerie ghostly happenings could easily happen to themselves in their own homes.
However, Paranormal Activity's massive success was what lead it to its ultimate downfall. Due to how successful the first film was, producers were more than happy to keep the franchise going, keeping the found-footage horror genre momentum until it eventually ran stale for many.
After the eighth and most recent film in 2021 (including the Japanese side sequel), fans found themselves a bit tired of the franchise, finding each film to be a bit repetitive, filled with fewer and fewer genuine scares.